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Suspect in Boynton Beach murder-suicide once convicted, then acquitted of attempted murder

Narcisse Antoine accused of killing 32-year-old woman, then self in domestic-related shooting
Narcisse Antoine, 2009 arrest photo superimposed over 2021 Boynton Beach shooting scene
Posted at 2:04 PM, Apr 20, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-20 18:09:20-04

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — A man accused of fatally shooting a 32-year-old woman in a Boynton Beach hotel parking lot before killing himself was once found guilty of attempted murder, only to be acquitted in a retrial.

Boynton Beach police identified Narcisse Antoine, 40, as the suspect in Tuesday morning's domestic-related murder-suicide outside the Hampton Inn on Gateway Boulevard.

Officer Jaclyn Smith said the shooting occurred shortly after 1:30 a.m. When officers arrived, they found the woman dead in a car, while a 2-year-old child was asleep inside. The child wasn't harmed.

Witnesses told police Antoine fled the scene after the shooting, but officers located the getaway vehicle and attempted a traffic stop in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95, north of the Gateway Boulevard exit.

When officers made contact, they found Antoine dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A jury in 2015 acquitted Antoine of murder and attempted murder charges in connection with a 2009 double shooting outside a downtown West Palm Beach nightclub.

It was a retrial for Antoine after his 2011 conviction of attempted murder and 40-year prison sentence was reversed on appeal.

Narcisse Antoine in court during first appearance after 2009 arrest
Narcisse Antoine appears in court after his 2009 arrest in connection with a double shooting in West Palm Beach.

West Palm Beach police said Brandon Hammond and Jeffrey Thompson had been thrown out of the nightclub on June 1, 2009. They continued harassing other patrons who were leaving the club, including Antoine, who pulled out a gun, blew them a kiss and shot them, police said.

Hammond was fatally wounded, but Thompson survived the shooting.

Palm Beach County court records show that assistant public defender Elizabeth Ramsey represented Antoine during the West Palm Beach case. A search of Miami-Dade County's marriage records show that she later married Antoine in Miami. The marriage certificate was dated Nov. 20, 2015, several months after Antoine was acquitted in the retrial.

Miami-Dade County online marriage license
Miami-Dade County online marriage records show that Narcisse Antoine married his defense attorney, Elizabeth Ramsey, after he was acquitted in a retrial.

Ramsey did not answer the phone numbers listed on her member profile on the Florida Bar's website, but a woman who answered the listed office number said Ramsey was out of the office Tuesday.

Police have not released the name of the victim or the relationship between her and Antoine, citing Florida's privacy law.